Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Brass Accentsmakes engraved door knockers. They are made from Solid Brass and come in a variety finish choices. Brass Accents is known for heavy, solid, quality items. They make the door knockers in two sizes, an 8" overall and a 6" overall.

The 8" knocker comes in Weathered Black, Oil Rubbed Bronze, Antique Brass, Satin Brass (which is not an easy finish to find,) Polished Brass, and Weathered Rust. It has 4-1/2" hole spacing. You can get up to nine characters engraved on it. The letters will be in all capitals.

The 6" knocker comes in Weathered Black, Oil Rubbed Bronze, Antique Brass, Satin Brass, and Polished Brass. It comes with a door viewer built in or without. The 6" size has a 3-15/16" hole spacing and can also have up to nine capital characters engraved.

Brass Accents also makes mail slots and some door hardware so you can complete an entirely new entry. These also make a great gift for a new home owner.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cliffside knows what they're doing! They have always had great quality and lots of options for styles and finishes but this year they've started grouping their cabinet hardware by finish as opposed to by design. If you ask me, this makes picking out your hardware much easier.

The thing is, it's your house....you can mix and match styles or go with all of one design. Regardless, you want the finishes on each piece to match. Cliffside has knobs, pulls, hinges, and latches in pretty much every finish.

Flat Black has become quite popular and to be honest, not a lot of manufacturers have this finish in all of the items needed for cabinets. Cliffside has these super cool icebox latches in flat black. Which by the way, are one of my favorite hardware items ever.They also have cup pulls, knobs, handles, and appliance pulls in 8" and 12" on center.

Polished Nickel is another finish that has become popular. I could probably write five posts about new polished nickel collections and trending styles that feature polished nickel. The knob below is a neat one that they're offering in the Polished Nickel finish.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

First, I'd like to preface this with an apology for being absent. New computer, new photo editing, it's been pretty busy around The Hut, and of course summertime with vacations and such. But, I'm back in full swing so let's get started......

You don't usually give much thought to door hinges until you go to replace them. Hinges come in a variety of sizes. The typical size for an interior door is 3 1/2" high by 3 1/2" wide. This is not a rule but fairly typical. For an exterior door you usually will have a 4" by 4" although, depending on your door size the hinges can be larger than this. Door hinges will usually go up or down in 1/2" increments. For example, door hinges usually start at 3 1/2"x3 1/2" and go to 4"x4", 4 1/2"x4 1/2", and 5"x5". Occasionally you'll have a 4 1/2"x4" or a 5"x4 1/2" but it doesn't seem to be as common.

Door hinges come in either plain bearing or ball bearing. This refers to the pin or as some people call it, the barrel and how it's put together. Most interior hinges are a plain bearing, meaning the two leaves of the hinge are interlocked around a straight pin and pivot directly onto the pin. A ball bearing hinge is put together the same way but in between pin and the interlocking leaves are ball bearings. The bearings give the hinge a smoother action and they disburse the weight of the door so they can withstand heaver doors and more use.

On a 3 1/2" hinge there will be three screw holes on each leaf, on a 4" or higher there will be four screw holes on each leaf. The hinges that have four screw holes get a little tricky. The hole pattern can be different, so it's wise to double check your holes and measure their placement as well. There is what's called the architectural pattern which is the shape of an arch or what I call a half moon shape. The hole placement for this pattern is pretty consistent from brand to brand. The other pattern is called Staggered. The holes are in a zig-zag pattern, and these can vary. On some hinges the top hole starts closest to the pin, the next hole is closer to the outside edge, third hole is closer to pin, and last hole is closer to the outside. This pattern can be reversed on the other leaf or it can be the same on both leaves. It can also be the exact opposite where the top hole starts on the outside and zig-zags from there.

Lastly, there are the hinge corners. There are three types; a square corner, a 1/4" radius, and a 5/8" radius. Square corners are obvious but the radius isn't so easy to spot. You're geometry might be a little rusty, so most likely you don't remember how to measure a radius. The simplest way to find out which radius you have is to use coins. A quarter or .25 cents when held up the the corner of the hinge is very close to a 5/8" radius. A dime is very close to a 1/4" radius.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

No, There's not a hardware abyss or black hole that I've been sucked into. I'm blaming my lack of posting on the absence of photo editing software. For the sake of being non-biased, I won't name names. But-there is a certain type of photo editing software that I use to make my fancy pictures and I don't have it on my new computer yet. Let me tell you, trying to edit, crop, collage, and beautify objects in MS Paint is just not fun.

So, dear readers. Pretty soon I'll have my program back and will be posting more hardware goodness. In the meantime, I'll tell you a few neat things at the Hut that some people don't know about. On all of our products, there is a photo and under that are tabs. One of the tabs is labeled "Specifications" there is almost always more information there that isn't on the first page. Also, many items have pdf files of installation instructions and detailed line drawings. And, if you haven't been to the Hardware Hut recently, you should go check out the new page layouts. Instead of the items being lined out in a row they're in a grid pattern. I think it looks pretty slick! If you don't like that particular view you have the option to change it now too.So, until next time......

Thursday, April 1, 2010

For those of you who have children, decorating their bedrooms can be a lot fun. A kids room is an area where you don't have to worry about things flowing with the rest of the house. You can be creative, bold, and fun. You can go with a theme or if your kids have outgrown a themed room there's bright color choices, and neat shapes that still make a statement.

For little girls, we've got a collection of knobs and pulls by Vicki Lane that are ballerina slippers and hearts. This collection is sickeningly sweet, they look like they could be marzipan cake toppers. Vicki Lane hand molds all of her designs out of clay and then they're made into cast resin pieces.

If your little girl is not so little anymore, but you still want a "pretty" design, Altas Homewares makes a collection called Le Fleur. Even though I don't consider myself to be particularly girly, I can appreciate pretty flowers. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything french. Atlas chose a perfect color combination of white, coral, and teal green.

I don't know what it is, but regardless of age there's something about sparkles that us girls like. Cal Crystal has an entire line of crystal cabinet knobs that comes in various shapes and colors. They glimmer, they shine, and yes they're sparkly.

For those of you who have a boys room to decorate, you know there's just not as much stuff out there to work with. You've got cars & trucks, sports, animals, and that's about it.Emenee makes a couple of collections that are really cool. They have you're typical sports collection, but they include things like a golf tee that you don't normally see. They also have a collection called workshop. This is my favorite collection by them. The workshop collection are replicas of real tools like pliers, a hammer, a trowel, and a wrench. These come in a silver finish, so they match almost any color scheme and the detail is amazing.

Another collection for a boys room is Altas Homewares Bon Voyage. This collection could actually be in either a boys or a girls room but a lot of little boys are interested in landmarks, maps, and traveling. The Bon Voyage collection features a major landmark from Rome, Paris, New York, and London. Perhaps, they'll inspire your little one to become a world traveler.

Since I covered both girls and boys separately, I'll share a few collections that could be used interchangeably. Simply put, they're just fun! If you don't have a specific theme, and want something bright these definitely fit the bill. First up, the Swirls knobs by Artisan Knobs. They're ceramic knobs with a swirl shape carved into the top. They come in all kinds of bright yummy colors like blueberry, black cherry, coconut, green apple, mango, lemon.....you get the idea.

I saved my favorite until the end. TheAltas Homewares Indochine Beauties collection. I really want an excuse to be able to use some of these somewhere in my house. I love bright colors and modern design. These two elements are wrapped into one perfect package in the Indochine collection. Again, in the right setting or on the right piece of furniture these would go great in either a boys or a girls room.

Whether you're in nesting mode, or remodel mode, or your kids outgrowing their nurseries there's tons of fun hardware on the market to make their room reflect their personality.

Friday, March 19, 2010

I'm a visual person. I like pictures, I keep a tape measure handy at my desk because, I even though I know what 3" looks like I can't really visualize it. I need the actual tape to give me that visual. I wish more hardware manufacturers would realize that there are people in the world who can't automatically envision something in their head when they're planning their designs.

With this post, I thought I'd share a few pictures of the hardware that we sell in a setting. Feast your eyes on these beauties.

This picture shows the brand Siettoon a cabinet. To be honest, I wouldn't pick out this pull based on the picture of the pull alone but shown in this kitchen it looks fantastic.

Atlas Homewares is one of the few manufacturers that produce some good pictures of their hardware in the appropriate settings. The handles shown are from their Euro Tech line. This handle....

could be this.....

Here's a Schlage push button electronic lock that's installed an a door to a wine cellar.

And, another Atlas Homewares collection. The Zanzibar bath hardware, I think this looks pretty good on the dark cabinets but it would look good on a light wood too.

My last picture is a towel warmer byAmba These styles tend to look modern when not shown in a setting, but this bathroom is kind of retro, and definitely sassy. These towel warmers can really blend into any style.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Bosetti Marella has come out with a really cute colors collection. This collection has knobs and pulls that are inlaid with colored enamel. You've got bold color choices like lemony yellow with grassy green and pastel pink with cotton candy pink. I think they're pretty cool. I see a dresser refinishing project in my near future.

Gatcohas been doing a good job of keeping of with the styles and trends in today's hardware world. They have an incredibly popular collection of bathroom hardware called Latitude. They've recently rounded out the collection with mirrors and now lighting and faucets. Gatco does offer a number of collections in different styles that now have lighting and faucets as well.

Home organization is an area of the home that is often overlooked, but definitely needed. I have noticed more and more baskets, brackets, and ,hooks being ordered. With shows on TV like Mission Organization, people are bound to get motivated to do something about it. We offer a pretty extensive line of items to aid in organization, but for now I'll show you some of Amerock'snew hooks. These come in 3 wood finish choices and 3 metal finish choices. You can get single hooks or a row of hooks, and they're giving the "over the door hook" a comeback as well.

The last thing I want to mention is Berenson's new Polished Nickel cabinet hardware collection. To be honest, there's no ground breaking design hiding here, but there are some nice timeless styles that are now offered in the Polished Nickel. Which, is still gaining in popularity. The bonus....since these are new, they're on sale right now!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lots of people have flat screen TVs now; some hang them on a wall, some have an entertainment until that the TV sits on, but a lot of people like to have their TV hidden in a cabinet. Wood Technologies makes the Whisper Ride TV lift that's very affordable and fits almost every flat screen on the market. This TV lift will accommodate a TV that is 200 pounds or less and up to 50 inches. I've personally never installed one of these, but having seen it in action a number of times, it doesn't look like such a difficult task.

The TV lift comes with what is essentially a track that runs vertically on the back of the cabinet. It has a cross bar that's shaped like an "H" that mounts to the back of the television. It comes with a power supply that gets plugged in, and when you press the button on either your remote or the rocker switch it moves up and down. Mounted to the mechanism is what the manufacturer calls a "lid lifter" so that when the TV comes up the lifter hits the wood and lifts it, rather than the TV hitting the wood directly. Below is a line drawing of the lift.

The great thing about these is that you can use an existing cabinet as long as your TV will fit inside, or you can have a cabinet custom made to fit this. I've even had a couple of people mount them upside down to drop a TV down from the ceiling. These really are pretty slick!

Emtek has been really focused on the modern look with their hardware, I've talked about some of their leather items and they've got an entire line of levers and knobs that are geared toward modern interiors. They've come out with a modern entry called the Orion that I love! It goes great with their line of interior door hardware. Even though the picture is shown in Satin Nickel, it also comes in Flat Black (which has become popular), Oil Rubbed Bronze, and Polished Chrome.

Another new collection to our site is the Modern line of bath hardware by Emtek. These come in three styles to match the door hardware, all three styles are offered in stainless steel. You can chose from the Beveled rosette, the Disk rosette, or my personal favorite-the Square rosette.

We've carried storm door latches on our website and in our store for years, but Deltana makes a version that seems to be a little better quality than the previous brand that we've carried. We are in the process of switching over brands so right now we've only got three finishes offered online. We are able to order all of the major popular finishes though. Below is a picture of the Satin Nickel version, just look at the finish on this...it's a perfect example of what Satin Nickel should be.

Deltana also makes a line of cabinet hinges, I could post an entire blog about how amazing these hinges are. They are literally the nicest cabinet hinges I've ever seen. By far. I can get into the technicalities of why they're so great, such as the smooth opening and closing action. The finish is perfect, there are no pits or spots, nothing. Perhaps, I will save this for another post. I mention these hinges because, Deltana has just introduced a Polished Nickel finish in this line. The cabinet hinges come in various sizes ranging from 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" up to a 3" by 3".

The last item I'll talk about is the Hager ADA compliant flush pull. These aren't actually a new item, but we recently put them on our website. We do have a limited quantity on hand and once we sell out of those they'll be gone. Why even talk about it? Information folks! I get lots of inquiries about ADA compliant hardware because most of the time it's hard to find. A flush pull that is ADA is even harder to find. It's unique because in order for a piece of hardware to be compliant with ADA regulations it has to be easy to use for people with physical limitations. Imagine if you will, you don't have full function of your fingers. You're going to need a lever or flush pull or whatever to be easy to use without actually having to grip the item. Hardware like knobs just don't work, but a lever that has enough projection for you to fit your hand behind it and use more of your hand and/or wrist would work just fine. On a flush pull, the problem is that you can only have so much depth because most doors are 1-3/8" or 1-3/4", so how do you fit a hand in something that is shallower than that. The Hager flush pull is wide, really wide....five inches wide. You can fit your hand in and under part of the flush pull to slide the door open and closed.